G.X: Finder's Keepers

Geo managed to gain composure after remembering the last time he was in front of the time machine, right before the beacon made a diversion. 

He remembered that he was supposed to stop someone from doing something in time but he can barely recall who that person was or what was it that he's trying to stop from happening.

When the woman was done making her gruel, and in between tending to his sudden breakdown earlier on, they finally sat for dinner. 

Geo realized he wasn't that hungry at all. He thought, maybe it was merely seconds or minutes or hours he's been tumbling in the fog. Too short of a time span for him to feel hungry just yet.

Even so, his short falling through time seem to blast him back ages into the past. Noticing how the room was dimly lit by candles, he figured it was a time way before electricity and power lines.

Now that his eyes had adjusted well to the dimness, he finally saw how odd the woman was. Her hair... 

The tint was just not right. 

He figured she has to be a redheaded albino of some kind, not that he'd heard about it before, or that he had fallen into another world where pink is actually a natural hue for hairs. He continued to wonder.

"Wh-what are you looking at?" she had a worried expression. A stranger in her house, staring at her, is not a good sign.

But a quick glance at the beacon made her calm. "Why aren't you touching your food?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized, noticing her slight discomfort. "Uh... I'm... My name is Geoffrey. I don't know how to repay you for saving me. But thank you."

He skipped his nickname for some reason.

"You're welcome," she briefly replied. She was looking intently at him now. "I'm Lena."

"You're not from here are you?" she asked. "Your accent is strange... and so is your clothes. - Oh, by the way, I washed them. They were filthy and damp when I found you."

"I'm from the future," he blurted the truth in a serious tone, glazing over the fact that she clothed him.

There was something urgent that he had forgotten and that he wanted to get straight to the point.

"And that flying orb is mine," he said a matter of fact. "I'm here to take it back with me."

"Wait, what?!" she almost choked on her food.

"What are you talking about? You're not serious, are you?"

"I'm dead serious," he said. The flickering flames reflected in his eyes. "That thing is the only way I can return to where I come from."

He tried to look intimidating as best as he could.

"I don't care who you are or where you claim you came from," was her sharp reply. 

"No one calls my friend a 'thing'! And I don't believe a word you just said."

"Why don't you finish up your food," she said instructively rather than suggesting. She immediately continued with her meal. "That might clear your head up a bit."

Geo tried burning another stare at her, but it wasn't working anymore. Lena completely ignored him. Somehow, he felt really stupid for starting out on the wrong foot with the person who has his beacon. Now how would he ever get it back?

And what baffles him the most is, don't the beacon recognize him? If it does, why didn't it just return to his side and everything would be less complicated.

All the thoughts running in his head were interrupted by the sweet smelling gruel that was in front of him. It made his mouth water and Geo deliberately took a spoonful into his mouth.

The next thing he know, he was scraping the bottom of the bowl. The gruel tastes so good to waste even a little drop.

"Are you done there?" Lena was already standing beside him. "Would you like seconds?"

"No, I'm done," Geo lied. He would have taken her offer if she didn't sound so amused by his out-of-nowhere gluttony.

"Good," she flatly muttered and took his bowl away, carrying it towards the basin.

"Look, Lena... I know we got on the wrong foot," Geo tried to get back on her good side. "I'm really grateful that you helped me even though I'm a total stranger and all that."

Lena mumbled a wordless acknowledgement.

"I don't know how to convince you, but I am, really from a time way ahead from today," he explained. "And I need this friend, which is now yours, to help me get back and save someone dear to me."

"And who is this someone you're trying to save?" she nonchalantly asked as she scrubbed the bowls.

Geo went silent. It struck him that he still can't remember something so important. How come he still have the notion of a great responsibility towards something if he can't even remember what it was? He suspects that the beacon had taken that away from him.

"I thought so," Lena figured, after hearing no answer from him.

"Then I'll just have to take it by force!" Geo suddenly pounced. He was too desperate to get through unfruitful negotiations.

Lena shook, almost dropping the slippery bowls on the floor. She gave a little shriek as the beacon flew swiftly around her, avoiding Geo's grasps.

"Come here, you!" he roared while his hands flailed around snatching empty air.

"STOP IT!" Lena shouted. "If I knew you were going to rob my friend from me, I would have just left you out there in the storm and let you freeze to death!"

"Oh, really now?" Geo retorted. "Didn't you say it yourself that this thing was the one that magically moved us into the house? - In case you don't know, it's called 'Teleportation'."

"Like I'm going to believe whatever you say," she wasn't swaying.

"I wasn't expecting you to know anything about the future anyway," he mocked.

"Well, then, if she really is yours," Lena resolved to have the final say. "Tell me, what's her name?"

"Vingcanti," he announced confidently without much doubt.

Lena's eyes widen. "H-How did you know?"

"Because it obviously belongs to me," and then Geo paused before he continued. "How did you know?"

"S-She told me," Lena admitted. She seemed a little timid now that she realized he was telling the truth and something about who he is and where he came from, scared her.

Geo blinked at her answer. Vingcanti never said a word to him, much less making any sound of communication. He felt a deep sense of regret.

"You traitor!" he pointed at the beacon. Lena gasp before she realized he wasn't talking to her. "You led me to believe I would be ruined without you, but now you took away all I have and left me wandering in time! Are you happy now?!"

Vingcanti floated calmly beside Lena as if it didn't understand what he was saying.

"I-I'm sorry... Geoffrey..." Lena's voice seemed little compared to his vehement voice. "I didn't think that... She's so important to you."

Geo was still staring at Vingcanti, full of rage.

"Vingcanti," she called unto the friend that wasn't her's. And with a heavy heart she said, "Please return to your master. I never meant to keep you away from him."

She was sincerely letting go but Vingcanti stayed afloat by her side.

After a few moments of waiting, it was clear that Vingcanti showed no sign of returning to Geo. From regret and rage, he suddenly felt abandoned and unwanted. 

He wondered what did he do wrong but unfortunately, he can't remember much. The void in his memory was wrenching his heart and he can't do anything about it.

Vingcanti has chosen. And Geo can't understand why it had to be that way.

He walked away and dragged himself out of the little house. He felt so heavy with mixed emotions that it suffocates him.

"Wait, Geoffrey," Lena called. "Where are you going? It's going to storm again soon - "

"Good," he blurted as he shuts the door behind him.

The lingering light from the setting sun made him more gloomy. There was no breeze and yet he felt a strong chill hovering in the air.

"How many thousand years am I far back?" he muttered to himself. Not really wanting to know the answer. The sense of hopelessness etched into his soul. He has no clue whatsoever on what to do next or even how to get back home without the beacon that was fated to guide him.

Fate. 

He suddenly loathed that word. If only he didn't stumble into all of this in the first place...

Then, a tiny spark of hope ignited in him when he saw peculiar looking clouds hovering over the west. And it's not your normal everyday storm clouds. They were purple in color, and seem to gleam with it's own light. 

"Time fog," Geo spoke under his breath. Somewhat excited. The sight of the fog washed away all his distress.

He decides to wait till the fog is hovering directly over the village before he can attempt to walk into it. Forget about getting back his memories. Forget about getting Vingcanti back to him. He just wanted to leave. The fog is his ticket.

He was grateful that he didn't forget this one thing.

And who says every cloud must have a silver lining?